'This Week Is About Unity': Wisconsin Republican Party Officials Discuss The RNC

2 months ago

Wisconsin Republican Party officials held a press briefing on Monday ahead of the Republican National Convention.

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Transcript

00:00All right, for those of you who don't have the pleasure of knowing me, my name is Brian

00:08Schimming.

00:09I'm the state chairman of the Republican Party.

00:11It's B-R-I-A-N, last name is spelled S-C-H-I-M-M-I-N-G, and to my right is John Leiber, the state

00:22treasurer of Wisconsin, who was elected in 2022, and so I welcome him here as well.

00:31This week is about unity.

00:33As I said before, the plain truth of the matter here is that the Democrats are a party in

00:39disarray.

00:40They're a party in panic right now.

00:44To be in a situation with a four-year incumbent Democrat president who has clearly lost the

00:52confidence of his own party, of his own party's leaders, of his own voters, will historically

01:00go down, they'll be writing books about it.

01:03It's so bad.

01:06By contrast, the Republicans are in Milwaukee today, unified behind Donald Trump, and frankly,

01:15with all the choices he has for vice president, will be unified behind anybody that he brings

01:25up as the vice presidential candidate.

01:27I really believe that.

01:29So we are really in a place, historically, that is amazing for the Republican Party and

01:37for this ticket and for Donald Trump.

01:41We are all praying for the victims of what happened at the Trump rally a couple of days

01:47ago, and I will say, as I said before, I don't care which party, which movement, whatever,

01:55to have that happen at a presidential rally like that is just, we can't have that in America.

02:02And so we're all praying for the victims, and I have encouraged people, the Trump campaign

02:07has put together a GoFundMe for the victims, and of course, some of that is still going

02:12on.

02:13We still have people in the hospital.

02:15So all of our prayers are towards them, those victims in the situation there.

02:21But we come to Milwaukee, I will say two things.

02:25This will be a convention of unity, number one, and unity of purpose, and number two,

02:32I get a lot of questions about the security situation in Milwaukee because of what happened.

02:39Milwaukee, Wisconsin, right now, is the safest place on the face of the planet.

02:46We have hundreds and hundreds, thousands, actually, of law enforcement personnel from

02:51all over the country in downtown Milwaukee to make sure that our delegates, our alternates,

02:58our candidates, our guests, our visitors are safe.

03:03And that is a priority, and I'm a Homer.

03:07I'm from Wisconsin.

03:08I am damn proud of the fact that this convention is in Milwaukee, I truly am.

03:13I've had an office on and off in this city for years.

03:16And so I'm excited because I am a Homer, but I'm also excited because this is a historic

03:22moment.

03:23We've never had a convention here in Milwaukee, a Republican convention, and so my goal is

03:30for this party and this movement to show the world that we want to make America great again.

03:39And the way to do that is to elect Donald Trump and elect the Republican ticket.

03:43And if John, State Treasurer, any comments from you?

03:47Sure.

03:48Yeah, I have an opportunity to talk to a lot of Republicans and also Democrats when

03:53I'm in Madison, and it really is amazing the difference in enthusiasm between Republicans.

04:00I haven't met a single Republican who's out there not excited about this upcoming election.

04:06They are energized.

04:07They are just waiting until they get a chance to vote.

04:10And when I talk to Democrats, they're kind of resigned.

04:13They don't really want to vote for their candidate.

04:16They might do it out of duty.

04:17Some might stay home.

04:19But they just don't have the same energy because they don't have anything to vote for.

04:22And that's the real difference here.

04:24Republicans are actually going out and voting for a candidate they like.

04:27And Democrats don't have that opportunity.

04:30And that's such an important point.

04:32We've seen the poll in Marquette and other polls as well in Wisconsin and around the

04:37country.

04:38The enthusiasm gap for Donald Trump versus Joe Biden is 22 points, 22 points.

04:50That is, and even Democrat strategists are out there right now talking about that and

04:55how that is a major factor in people voting early, in people voting on election day, in

05:02people being involved like they are here.

05:05It's a massive, massive factor.

05:08And Joe Biden, in spite of tens of millions of dollars of spending by him and third party

05:14groups, can't get his own base jacked up to support him.

05:20I want you to think about that.

05:22The sitting Democrat incumbent cannot get his own base behind him against somebody they

05:30have spent years vilifying in Donald Trump.

05:35I mean, just think about what's happened in the last several years and take the kind of

05:4130,000 foot view, right?

05:45And the Democrats are in serious, serious trouble.

05:49And Republicans, not only all across America, but in Wisconsin and every target state are

05:56on offense.

05:57I got a few minutes for questions, if folks have any questions.

06:00Brad, have you talked to the former president?

06:02We know he arrived late last evening and there's a lot speculating that he's going to take

06:05the convention stage in some fashion today.

06:08Any thoughts?

06:09Yeah, I have not talked, I'm sorry, I haven't talked to President Trump.

06:13He is in Milwaukee, he came into Milwaukee late yesterday.

06:16I will tell you in terms of the convention schedule itself, the convention schedule has

06:21not changed.

06:23The convention schedule that you've seen out there right now is the same.

06:28I had this exact conversation with Chairman Wadley before my press conference yesterday.

06:34The convention schedule is the same.

06:37We are confident in the security situation here in downtown Milwaukee and across southeast

06:43Wisconsin.

06:44So as we pray and mourn the death of our folks in Pennsylvania, we are also, as we look forward

06:54to this week, look forward to a week where Republicans have come together and have been

07:01unified and are going to go through this convention in the way that we planned to do it.

07:06Are you going to speak tonight, and if he does, when could that happen?

07:12I don't know if he's going to speak tonight, I don't know that.

07:16I can honestly say I don't know.

07:18Chair, what are your expectations when he does ultimately sort of re-emerge after the

07:22assassination attempt, excuse me?

07:25He's rewriting his speech and there's some speculation that tone could be different.

07:29I'm wondering what your expectations are when he comes out for the first time.

07:32I think the President will be reflective on what has happened here in the last couple

07:38of days and will certainly use that unfortunate occurrence to call people to a common place.

07:50So I fully expect the President to address that, but also to make sure that the whole

07:55country hears him saying that not only that kind of thing is wrong, but this is a time

08:02where you can unify the country.

08:05A rare moment when something tragic like this happens and you can unify the country.

08:11I'm looking for a respondent from the Library.

08:13Yes.

08:15You're a delegate.

08:17Are there any conversations amongst fellow delegates about the platform, anything you'd

08:20like to see changed?

08:22Any specifics of some, to get a sense of what you're talking about would be top of mind.

08:28So I was actually on the platform committee as well, and there was a lot of talk among

08:34the delegates about what they'd like to be in it, what they'd like to change in it.

08:39But the message was this was a platform to win an election.

08:43This is a platform of what the President stands for.

08:47This is what he wants to go out there and talk about and show to people what he wants

08:52to do in his next term.

08:53Any pushback in particular on any issues?

08:56There were some issues people had debates about, but I think some of the objections

09:01were more about the process and how it went through.

09:04Most people said, I like what's in here, I just wish I had a little more time to talk

09:08about it.

09:09But that's going to happen no matter how long things stretch out.

09:12Somebody always wants to have a little more time.

09:13So I think we're pretty unified on what this platform is and who we're nominating in this

09:19convention.

09:21And I think that's the real stark contrast between the Republican Party and the Democrat

09:24Party right now.

09:25Chairman, a quick question for you.

09:27Moments ago, Donald Trump's classified documents case was dismissed in Florida.

09:31I'm curious what your reaction is to that and if there are any takeaways from that legal

09:35proceeding you think he should bring with him to a second term if he is re-elected.

09:39Yeah, I was just in fact told that Judge Eileen Cannon had dismissed that case.

09:45It's a case that never should have been brought.

09:48It's a case that should have been brought, unfortunately, and I think that's why it was

09:52dismissed.

09:53That's number one.

09:54Number two, and the larger issue on Donald Trump with this.

10:00When the history book is written on the lawfare that has been used against a political opponent,

10:09in this case, Donald Trump, by the Biden administration and by third party groups and by

10:17others, it's going to be a book that's never been written before in history.

10:23So to me, it's the larger issue of going after Donald Trump generally, and they have

10:30unfortunately weaponized a lot of tools that should not have been weaponized, and I think

10:36the ruling today that you referred to is an example of that.

10:40Mr. Chairman, do you know when delegates will vote on the vice presidential nomination?

10:46I know, you know, could it happen before Wednesday, potentially?

10:49I honestly don't know the answer to that question.

10:53Two more questions, two more questions.

10:55Brian, you were talking about unity on the Dems in this array, but in terms of unity,

10:59during the primary in Wisconsin, around 20% voted for candidate President Trump.

11:04Do you expect those folks to have come around by now or after the convention?

11:10Every poll I see shows that Donald Trump has 95th percentile of support amongst Republicans

11:21across the country.

11:23So we're going to be in a unified situation for this election, and I would underscore

11:28also Governor DeSantis and Ambassador Haley will both be speaking at this convention.

11:34So I'll tell you, I think we both travel in this state.

11:37It's as unified as I have ever seen it, and I've been traveling this state for 35 years.

11:44Speaker Gingrich made a joke about Madison, and it got quite a reaction from the room.

11:47What is it about Madison that Republicans found so funny today?

11:51Well, I'm a Republican from Madison, and I grew up right next to Camp Randall,

11:59and even I thought it was funny, okay?

12:03So I will say this.

12:04Obviously, Madison, 75% or whatever it is, 70% go Democrat.

12:12It's a Democrat base in the state more than around here.

12:16So I think people, just as Democrats might say some things about us and some of our strength

12:22there is, Madison kind of ends up.

12:24But I will say this.

12:25The Dane County party has been doing an excellent job there, and I think we will do better in

12:31Madison this time, and this is what the Democrats fear.

12:35So let's use that as an example.

12:38Where does Joe Biden have to go after his debate train wreck, train wreck with a 22-point

12:48deficit in the enthusiasm gap?

12:51Does he go to some swing area of the state?

12:53Does he go to Green Bay or go out to Eau Claire or go out to La Crosse?

12:59No, he has to go find the softest pillow there is for a Democrat in this state to try to

13:08make sure the people are still behind him.

13:11He goes to Madison, Wisconsin.

13:13Now, I've managed a lot of races around there, partisan and nonpartisan over the years.

13:18Republicans can do better in Madison, and I think they will.

13:22And it's also indicative, not just geographically with Madison, but look at where the Democrats

13:27are right now.

13:28They have troubles with their own base.

13:31They have an enthusiasm gap problem.

13:34They have a problem in the Hispanic community.

13:37They have a problem in the African-American community.

13:39They have a problem with young voters.

13:42In demographic after demographic after geographic in this state, the Democrats are a party in

13:50disarray, and every single poll in this country shows it.

13:56All right.

13:56Thank you, everyone.

13:57Thank you, everyone.

'This Week Is About Unity': Wisconsin Republican Party Officials Discuss The RNC

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